UCC - Ubuntu Control Center

This idea was brought up lots of times, on brainstorm you can find related and duplicated suggestions from this same topic. It would be a lot easier and nicer for new users to have the critical configurations options arranged in the same place. Windows has the control-panel, OSX has too. And Ubuntu ? There's a gigantic list of options that doesn't even fit the majority of screen sizes. Mandriva already solved this problem with the wonderful MCC or Mandriva-Control-Center. The pictures above speaks for them selfs. The question is why not use what we already have ?

MCC 2010 video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCWl96_IsX0

I quite like the control centre mandriva (ye gawds, thats an awful name) has. I dont know if I would use it, but it would be nice to have the option ;)

Do you mean something like Ubuntu Tweak, installed by default?

Isn't that what gnome-control-center (in repos) is?

descendent87 said: Isn't that what gnome-control-center (in repos) is?

Yep it's installed but it needs the menu item ticking under System. Odd decision not to have it on the system menu by default.

If you try a Mandrive or Opensuse LiveCD you'll see that neither Ubuntu Tweak or Gnome-Control-Center are as feature rich, intuitive and nice on the eyes as MCC or YAST, if it was there will be no meaning to put efforts on that applications. There's even a Text-Mode for MCC that would be a nice addition to Ubuntu Server eddition.

philinux said: Yep it's installed but it needs the menu item ticking under System. Odd decision not to have it on the system menu by default.

There was a huge outcry the first time they included it and made it default during testing.

When running gnome-shell we get the gnome control center.

cariboo907 said: When running gnome-shell we get the gnome control center.

Thats the old one. There is a new one planned for Gnome 3. Similar to OSX's System Preferences.

philinux said: Yep it's installed but it needs the menu item ticking under System. Odd decision not to have it on the system menu by default.

I should know better by now but I really doubted that statement of yours.

I have never particularly liked the GCC but it is there if you edit the menu.

ranch hand said: I should know better by now but I really doubted that statement of yours.

LOL :roll:

I should add that I do like it better than the version in Mandriva. Not sure why, just seems less cluttered and easier to navigate.

Checking a little further I believe it has been installed by default since at least 9.04 where it is in the system tools menu (I think you need to edit the menu there too though).

I knew it existed but didn't know it was pre-installed but then I've been using Kubuntu mainly for the last few releases

I will never understand why people don't want something that will enhance user experience of the entire system. YAST is seen as one of the strongest features of opensuse. Brainstorm had the same result of this poll. People who are voting negatively can explain it for me ?

As I can't get logged into brainstorm, I did not vote no.

However I surely would if it were not already installed by default. I have used it.

The thing is that you do not need all that crap on one window. Generally you want to configure one thing. There is a gui for every one of those that can be pulled up directly instead of having to open 2 windows.

I do not see how opening 2 windows instead of 1 improves my "user experience" at all.

Seeing how this is installed in your basic install I really do not see that there is a problem here for anyone. Yes you do need to edit your menu. I do not know why.

I think, for the sake of noobs, it would be nice if all options for the menus were enabled by default. I know how to uncheck all of them if I want.

It would make for an awfully large bunch of menus.

Dunno if a control center, but the way preferences are now, is really annoying.

benjamimgois said: This idea was brought up lots of times, on brainstorm you can find related and duplicated suggestions from this same topic...

<snip ads >

And you still haven't learned.

benjamimgois said: I will never understand why people don't want something that will enhance user experience of the entire system. YAST is seen as one of the strongest features of opensuse. Brainstorm had the same result of this poll. People who are voting negatively can explain it for me ?

Because not everyone finds it better than the existing menu. I don't consider it an enhancement, although I can see why some people might be more comfortable with it.

The Ubuntu developers don't care about votes, or otherwise what people want.

Do you really expect the design team to do anything that could improve user experience, or generally just anything the user's actually want? We could have a million votes in a poll for something awesome or expected, but if it doesn't fit the personal tastes of Scott James, Jono Bacon, Mark Shuttleworth, or somebody else up there, it isn't going to happen.

Although the developers and designers don't care what we think, you can still do it yourself after release, or start your own distro.

Of the options i would probably choose YAST. I dunno i kinda liked it when i tried openSUSE.

http://yast4debian.alioth.debian.org/

Might be a good project to contribute to.

I've always liked Yast

Hmm, I've had this for at least 18 months.. maybe we just need to switch to a better default DE.. ? ;)

Might I suggest something similar to KDE's or OS X's arrangement, i.e. in a browser style? Open one panel, select the preferences you want to change, the menu is replaced by that panel.

At a stretch, we might even be able to base it on the same core as Software Centre: there's no reason we can't reimplement the preferences panels in HTML and stick them inside a WebKit browser wrapper.

I do think that whatever happens, there definitely needs to be a change - the current preferences menu is cluttered and horifically inconsistent.

10.10 makes my third release using gnome-control-center. Great application. Don't really see why we would need another?

i actually love the menu way of doing things...

maybe it is only me, but i would not change anything... my point is

1) adding a new program will remove the clutter in the menu, BUT it will make a clutter of icons in some window, which takes time to open and has no other functionality then to just bind those icons together

2) once you know where anything is in the menus, it is very easy to find it, click it, do it... why wait for another window to open, to search for the icon you need... search for the sub-category... search for ... makes no sence

jrothwell97 said: Might I suggest something similar to KDE's or OS X's arrangement, i.e. in a browser style? Open one panel, select the preferences you want to change, the menu is replaced by that panel.

At a stretch, we might even be able to base it on the same core as Software Centre: there's no reason we can't reimplement the preferences panels in HTML and stick them inside a WebKit browser wrapper.

I do think that whatever happens, there definitely needs to be a change - the current preferences menu is cluttered and horifically inconsistent.

This is planned for Gnome 3 last time I looked. There is also a thread in the Ayatana mailing list on this subject.

One of the first things I do is enable Gnome Control Centre. so much easier having everything grouped together rather than on two menus

:)

Slug71 said: Of the options i would probably choose YAST.

I dunno i kinda liked it when i tried openSUSE.

http://yast4debian.alioth.debian.org/

Might be a good project to contribute to.

Yast4debian is actually dead for quite some time... sadly

zekopeko said: This is planned for Gnome 3 last time I looked. There is also a thread in the Ayatana mailing list on this subject.

Well, let's hope that Gnome 3 bring some news in the Control center.

Patch Gnome-Control-Center to adds anything that is missing... :)

Since anything that includes a .desktop file that causes it to show in 'System --> Preferences' or 'System --> Administration' seems to show in gnome-control-center, there doesn't seem to be a point for Ubuntu to create a different one. This is assuming the control center for Gnome 3 doesn't change the way it works.

Even if it didn't work that way, they could do it the same as in KDE, where there is a preferences section in the menu with launchers for misc preference and setup types of things that don't show in systemsettings and a link from there to systemsettings, which I would consider to be the next best thing from the current way of doing it.

Later, Seeker

benjamimgois said: Well, let's hope that Gnome 3 bring some news in the Control center.

I'm almost sure gnome-shell will never be default in ubuntu. So, no new control center for ubuntu.

vkontakte said: I'm almost sure gnome-shell will never be default in ubuntu. So, no new control center for ubuntu.

gnome shell will be default in 11.04 or 11.10, but with an option to change back to gnome2. In order for the desktop and ubuntu to advance there needs to be changes, that is one of the changes that could be made. its the same as the whole KDE4 argument that came round, and its obviously default now.

Then again only time will tell, i love gnome-shell as im 10x more efficiant in the way i work when using it and for me the efficiency is paramount.

thunderbox said: gnome shell will be default in 11.04 or 11.10, but with an option to change back to gnome2.

I hope not, people are already confused enough about what Gnome is relative to the tiny part of that that is Metacity+Panels or Mutter+Panels versus Mutter+Gnome-shell. We don't have to go through that whole fiasco again do we? :P

Later, Seeker

thunderbox said: gnome shell will be default in 11.04 or 11.10, but with an option to change back to gnome2. In order for the desktop and ubuntu to advance there needs to be changes, that is one of the changes that could be made. its the same as the whole KDE4 argument that came round, and its obviously default now.

Then again only time will tell, i love gnome-shell as im 10x more efficiant in the way i work when using it and for me the efficiency is paramount. Switching to gnome-shell would mean dropping all code written for both Notify OSD and Indicators. I can't believe they will accept it.

Yeah, I think such a control center would be nice to have available (not hidden) by default (not that I'd use it).

Well, i think that the poll can be closed now. I respect the opinions and comments off everyone but i still disagree. I take a look at Mandriva 2010.1 RC and take some screenshots from the latest MCC and it seens incredible to me. I verify that MCC is a tool written in perl language. When i have some time i'll see if i can port some functions to debians base...

benjamimgois said: Well, i think that the poll can be closed now. I respect the opinions and comments off everyone but i still disagree. I take a look at Mandriva 2010.1 RC and take some screenshots from the latest MCC and it seens incredible to me. I verify that MCC is a tool written in perl language. When i have some time i'll see if i can port some functions to debians base...

It's all a matter of personal preference. I know lots of people who would like what you propose. I just wouldn't use it personally. I always hated the control center in Mandrake when I used to use it. I just find it more cluttered and slower to use than a quick zip through a menu.

qamelian said: It's all a matter of personal preference. I know lots of people who would like what you propose. I just wouldn't use it personally. I always hated the control center in Mandrake when I used to use it. I just find it more cluttered and slower to use than a quick zip through a menu.

+1

That is how I feel about the Gnome config control panel and I prefer it to Mandrivas.

There are some things that Mandriva does very well, network configuration for one, but there again you could get to it quicker with a menu entry.

A menu maybe quicker to zip through but the problem is that they are becoming unwieldy.

The control center as is planned for Gnome 3 is similar to the one currently in KDE4. And lets be realistic here. Most people don't access that menu on a daily basis.

I would like something similar to the one in OSX/KDE. OSX has a really nice feature where when you search it dims the entires that don't match your search query and puts a spotlight circle on the ones that do much. They also search string inside "submenus" and do a synonym match. It is supper nice and most importantly very tidy.

The most optimal graphical solution to me until now is the netbook-launcher (apt-get netbook-launcher).

It doesn't have the clutter that a huge list has, but it still has all the options. If you can cope with your desktop being used as a huge 'iconized menu' then you get a nice 'control center' integrated due to the way it displays all menus. =)

Aside from that good ol' gnome-do or kupfer work magic if you know what you're looking for.

A special control center doesn't seem necessary to me.

Control-center only advantage over menu is that it reduces the cruft in the menu IMHO.

Trying to launch System->Preferences on a low-res display creates an headache (for me at least)

You could use any front end, as long as it's not damn ugly. MCC is quite ok.

It's a very good idea to have a dedicated control center for all system settings and customization. It brings down the learning curve _a_lot_ for newbies and it reduces clutter in the menus(remember just one app for every use!).

It could have a alternate text interface, like MCC, and a web interface too to cater for different usage scenarios and ease administration tasks. (why not coupled to an Android/Iphone app for controlling the system, it seems to be the norm today)

And it's convenient even for pros to always find the usual settings in the same place, instead of spread all over the system.

And sometimes, as we all know, system setting files are moved around and renamed and even pros have to relearn their new locations/names. With a control center it's up to the control center-devs to always have up to date bindings in their center, so it won't heart end users when the OS designers move around things.

Granted, Gnome Do is cool and even just sudo gedit, or better sudo nano/vim/emacs whatever on any command line local or ssh is enough for experienced users like devs and some others.

But it's not usability and Ubuntu is trying very hard to be mainstream so usability is a big requirement. A usable and practical control center for the win in my opinion :)

Hey guys, i take some time here with lazarus, DIA and Inkscape and create a small program to show what i have in mind for UCC. It's basically a MCC copy, but with ubuntu taste. It's just a developper preview so it dosn't do anything yet.

Take a look.

benjamimgois said: If you try a Mandrive or Opensuse LiveCD you'll see that neither Ubuntu Tweak or Gnome-Control-Center are as feature rich, intuitive and nice on the eyes as MCC or YAST, if it was there will be no meaning to put efforts on that applications. There's even a Text-Mode for MCC that would be a nice addition to Ubuntu Server eddition.

YaST has a text mode as well, ncurses mode I think is what they call it.

I personally like MCC and YaST, though MCC seems more geared towards a newbie then YaST does.

These tools are great IMO, and they are the reason I switched to openSUSE

I know that the majority here doesn't care about a control center, so if no one will do it i put my hands on lazarus and created the first version of UCC (Ubuntu Control Center). The interface is inspirated on Mandriva control center but i still use the default applications that come with ubuntu and fill others avaiable on the repositories that the Debian package will automatically install. You can say that it have almost the same options of Gnome-control-center, but at least in my point of view the interface is a lot cleanner and easy to navigate to new users. What do you think ?

Ops... One screenshot is missing.

benjamimgois said: I know that the majority here doesn't care about a control center, so if no one will do it i put my hands on lazarus and created the first version of UCC (Ubuntu Control Center). The interface is inspirated on Mandriva control center but i still use the default applications that come with ubuntu and fill others avaiable on the repositories that the Debian package will automatically install. You can say that it have almost the same options of Gnome-control-center, but at least in my point of view the interface is a lot cleanner and easy to navigate to new users. What do you think ?

Looks nice but I think that it has usability issues.

Look at this: http://switchtoamac.com/guides/images/system_preferences_leopard_01.png

Every submenu is there and is visible so the user doesn't have to guess categories by clicking as in your version.

There is a search that dims the window and draws a circle of light around the items you searched for: http://www.linux-mag.com/images/2008-01/system-prefs.png Your version doesn't have a search at all.

The main problem with your approach is that it falls into the same pit as the windows control panel from XP: http://www.energystar.gov/ia/products/power_mgt/winXP_control_panel.jpg

zekopeko said: Looks nice but I think that it has usability issues.

Look at this: http://switchtoamac.com/guides/images/system_preferences_leopard_01.png

Every submenu is there and is visible so the user doesn't have to guess categories by clicking as in your version.

There is a search that dims the window and draws a circle of light around the items you searched for: http://www.linux-mag.com/images/2008-01/system-prefs.png Your version doesn't have a search at all.

The main problem with your approach is that it falls into the same pit as the windows control panel from XP: http://www.energystar.gov/ia/products/power_mgt/winXP_control_panel.jpg

Yeap, you are right. Maybe in a future release i can made those corrections. Thanks for the advice.

I just released the software and the source code on Google-Code, so anyone can test it.

http://code.google.com/p/ucc/

There's also a official website (in Portuguese) with some screenshots.

http://sites.google.com/site/ubuntucontrolcenter/

I appreciate any feedback or comments. :)

Geeze, I don't even like the idea but will surely install it on one of my 10.10 installs in a little bit.

I'll let you know how it works on my box.

It seems to all work. I take it that you are planning on adding to it.

I opened Update Mangler (I never use it), USC (never use it), the Start up Disk utility (haven't used it ever) and the Software sources manager. All seem to function as they should.

Here is a shot of what I was just trying out.

Seems like a real nice bit of work. Keep us posted on updates and what things you would like for us to try.

ranch hand said: It seems to all work. I take it that you are planning on adding to it.

I opened Update Mangler (I never use it), USC (never use it), the Start up Disk utility (haven't used it ever) and the Software sources manager. All seem to function as they should.

Here is a shot of what I was just trying out.

Seems like a real nice bit of work. Keep us posted on updates and what things you would like for us to try. OK maybe I really should attach the screen shot. Probably works better that way.

ranch hand said: OK maybe I really should attach the screen shot. Probably works better that way.

Strange, the UCC is looking very strange on your system. There's 6 categories of applications to use. Here is an image of what it should look. Maybe that transparency effect that you are using is creating the problem...

benjamimgois said: Strange, the UCC is looking very strange on your system. There's 6 categories of applications to use. Here is an image of what it should look. Maybe that transparency effect that you are using is creating the problem...

Well, I will have to look at it again and try it without the effects set on "normal". FF will not work at all if they are not set there.

I usually have them set at "none". I hope the problem is fixed soon.

I can't check it right now as I am back on my "main" OS. I installed UCC on one of my "throw away" installs. They get the updates first to see what breaks, then I update my main and its back ups, or not, based on that.

They are good for this kind of thing as I have to boot to them twice a day to see how they are doing.

I will check when I update later and see if changing the effects to none makes a difference.

Sorry for the delay. Had a little problem over there when I changed the effects to "none". Lost my panels. Got them back today by booting to Failsafe Gnome.

The results with UCC are the same as they were with the effects on "normal". I do not have compiz enabled on that destop so I do not know if that is a problem.

Please advise.

ranch hand said: Sorry for the delay. Had a little problem over there when I changed the effects to "none". Lost my panels. Got them back today by booting to Failsafe Gnome.

The results with UCC are the same as they were with the effects on "normal". I do not have compiz enabled on that destop so I do not know if that is a problem.

Please advise.

You're on Maverick right? I think that could be the lack of support for RGBA.

Ah, well that could be it. Perhaps that should not be needed if this is proposed to be actually used by all folks.

Slug71 said: Of the options i would probably choose YAST.

I dunno i kinda liked it when i tried openSUSE.

http://yast4debian.alioth.debian.org/

Might be a good project to contribute to.

perhaps as a control center, but YaST as a package manager is the worst thing ever...

zekopeko said: You're on Maverick right? I think that could be the lack of support for RGBA.

That's what i suppose too. In fact Lazarus applications do not support RGBA yet... i believe

benjamimgois said: That's what i suppose too. In fact Lazarus applications do not support RGBA yet... i believe

Looks the same for me, but if I mouse over the left area and watch for the cursor to change to a hand (may not be a hand depending on your cursor theme), I can still get to the different areas.

The problem I have with it, is that it only shows what it shows, without regard to what you actually have installed.

So it shows me some sound related thing that complains that something is missing, I'm assuming some pulseaudio crap, and it doesn't give me the option to run gstreamer properties applet or the configuration for OpenAL.

It doesn't give me the option to run synaptic or the configuration utilities for QT, Java, compiz, Openbox, Nautilus actions configuration, etc... either.

Since it appears that Gnome's control center somehow either picks things up from the .desktop files included with the applications to determine what it should show or in some way shares the relevant section of the Gnome menu, to show you launchers for the various configuration utilities depending on what you have installed.

Later, Seeker

There is a change today. The last report was after changing the effects to "none" and having to reboot in a failsafe-gnome session.

Logged in today in a normal gnome session with the effects set on "none" and this is the result. I did use it to configure my printer, by the way, and it went fine.

OK, had some packages that were held back, including the new kernel, and this is a throw away OS so I got every thing up to date.

Still works.

Appears that you are doing a good job of it even if it does not blow my skirt up. I am sure that there are a lot of folks that would just love it.

I still prefer the GCC or just the menu items but I am not noted for good taste.

ranch hand said: OK, had some packages that were held back, including the new kernel, and this is a throw away OS so I got every thing up to date.

Still works.

Appears that you are doing a good job of it even if it does not blow my skirt up. I am sure that there are a lot of folks that would just love it.

I still prefer the GCC or just the menu items but I am not noted for good taste.

Hi Ranch, that's what i was thinking maybe your system needs to be reinstalled from zero. Thanks for the compliments man.

Hey guys, i just pushed the 0.2 version with some new features.

• New selection effect in the categories menu
• Removed menubar
• Added setting to calibrate joysticks
• Added the option Boot Options for managing Grub
• Added shortcut to visual effects
• Added shortcut to screensaver configuration
• Added shortcut to power management
• Added shortcut to keyboard shortcuts
• Ubuntu one moved to network category
• Login screen moved to System category
• Added missing dependency Gufw
• New and faster Splash screen

Oficial website: http://sites.google.com/site/ubuntucontrolcenter/

Google-code: http://code.google.com/p/ucc/

Now see, I just get the bugger working and you go and change it.

People that develop things are nasty bugger is all I can say.

Yes I will get the new one.

ranch hand said: Now see, I just get the bugger working and you go and change it.

People that develop things are nasty bugger is all I can say.

Yes I will get the new one.

hehehe... sorry man. Just a few clicks :)

Thanks again

Testing it now on my Lucid install! :D

I must say... I almost started to roll my eyes at where the thread seemed to be going, but you took the initiative and came up with a working prototype of you idea yourself! Very impressive ;)

P.S.: Never knew this before... but Chromium's a lifesaver ;)

Nicely done! I like what I see so far. :)

One question though... I never gave UCC my sudo password, nor did gksu come up when I clicked 'Run Nautilus as Administrator'... So how did it open a root Nautilus? :eek:

BlackOtaku said: Nicely done! I like what I see so far. :)

One question though... I never gave UCC my sudo password, nor did gksu come up when I clicked 'Run Nautilus as Administrator'... So how did it open a root Nautilus? :eek:

Thanks Blackotaku i hope that UCC be usefull to everyone. If you just open a program that asks for your root password the next one will not ask it again for a while. Try to reboot the system and than open UCC and try "run nautilus as admin". It will ask for your root password. ;)

benjamimgois said: Thanks Blackotaku i hope that UCC be usefull to everyone. If you just open a program that asks for your root password the next one will not ask it again for a while. Try to reboot the system and than open UCC and try "run nautilus as admin". It will ask for your root password. ;)

Ahh ok, I'm getting the prompt now.

On that note though, I didn't see any icon in my indicator/notifications area about me still having elevated priviledges (though that area has been somewhat *broken* for some reason recently...). I'm assuming that the reason for that behavior (Root Nautilus without prompt, that is) is because sudo has a timeout period before it asks for a password again.

I don't mean to derail the topic, but isn't that a potential security... nightmare? Perhaps sudo/gksu should be modified to abstain from such behavior in future releases. Yes, I am aware that this would be a distribution issue, but while we're on the topic here, it would be nice to get a quick opinion or two.

The intense purple sidebar is too "much" for the default theme. I would rather have the sidebar plain with just the new deep orange Ubuntu circle in it.

And is this in any way official? There is no blueprint for it, it is not hosted on launchpad. It seems that it is just a community effort which is not likely to be included in maverick? Or am I wrong.

amano said: The intense purple sidebar is too "much" for the default theme. I would rather have the sidebar plain with just the new deep orange Ubuntu circle in it.

And is this in any way official? There is no blueprint for it, it is not hosted on launchpad. It seems that it is just a community effort which is not likely to be included in maverick? Or am I wrong. This is a project that is being done by the OP. He thinks we need this in Ubuntu and has taken the time and effort to develop this as a proposal.

It does not blow my skirt up but you have to respect the feller for backing up his complaint with action on a solution.

I would not be surprised to see this as an option, perhaps it the USC, in the very near future.

I think that it should be moved to Launchpad myself. This is more reliable for these things and gives it more credibility.

benjamimgois said: Hey guys, i just pushed the 0.2 version with some new features.

• New selection effect in the categories menu
• Removed menubar
• Added setting to calibrate joysticks
• Added the option Boot Options for managing Grub
• Added shortcut to visual effects
• Added shortcut to screensaver configuration
• Added shortcut to power management
• Added shortcut to keyboard shortcuts
• Ubuntu one moved to network category
• Login screen moved to System category
• Added missing dependency Gufw
• New and faster Splash screen

Oficial website: http://sites.google.com/site/ubuntucontrolcenter/

Google-code: http://code.google.com/p/ucc/ This is the second time I have attempted to get the new package. Tried last night and now this morning. Can't seem to get to the page, get a timed out error.

ranch hand said: This is the second time I have attempted to get the new package. Tried last night and now this morning. Can't seem to get to the page, get a timed out error.

Try to get it on GTK-APPS:

http://gtk-apps.org/content/show.php/UCC+-+Ubuntu+Control+Center?content=125278

@ Ranch Hand I had trouble getting to the page too but persistence prevailed :lolflag:

@ benjamimgois looks like you are doing good , the newbes will like it . I still prefer Gnome control center ( or just edit the config files ) but thats maybe just habit :P

That worked real well and fast.

Just wonder why you are not on launchpad with this?

I just realized something. This project is most likely against the trademark policy. OP should change the name of the project since it implies it is an official Ubuntu control center.

http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/trademarkpolicy

ronacc said: @ Ranch Hand I had trouble getting to the page too but persistence prevailed :lolflag:

@ benjamimgois looks like you are doing good , the newbes will like it . I still prefer Gnome control center ( or just edit the config files ) but thats maybe just habit :P

Thanks man. I know that UCC doesn't make much diference for advanced users... that's why the main target are newbes :)

amano said: The intense purple sidebar is too "much" for the default theme. I would rather have the sidebar plain with just the new deep orange Ubuntu circle in it.

And is this in any way official? There is no blueprint for it, it is not hosted on launchpad. It seems that it is just a community effort which is not likely to be included in maverick? Or am I wrong.

zekopeko said: I just realized something. This project is most likely against the trademark policy. OP should change the name of the project since it implies it is an official Ubuntu control center.

http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/trademarkpolicy I never even considered that but I think you have it just right. That should be easy to change and would be a real good idea.

zekopeko said: I just realized something. This project is most likely against the trademark policy. OP should change the name of the project since it implies it is an official Ubuntu control center.

http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/trademarkpolicy

I already send a authorization request to use ubuntu's logo. I'm just waiting for reply. If it's denied that will be a very simple change to make.

You are a very good boy.

I downloaded the new package and put it over on the correct partition and will install it this evening.

benjamimgois said: I already send a authorization request to use ubuntu's logo. I'm just waiting for reply. If it's denied that will be a very simple change to make.

if its denied let us know here , between the lot of us we'll think of a catchy new name for it .

ronacc said: if its denied let us know here , between the lot of us we'll think of a catchy new name for it .

OK, as soon as i get the answer i'll post it here... I would like to thanks everyone for the support on this thread.

Hey guys, any suggestions for additions ? removals ?

I was thinking about adding:

Backup tool: "DEJA DUP"

Active Directory Authentication tool: "Likewise-open"

Think it's a good idea ?

anything that you think might help your "target audience" contorl their system is worth a try . One suggestion though , if you can implement them as modules that can be easily dropped if there is a problem it might save some work .

benjamimgois said: Hey guys, any suggestions for additions ? removals ?

I was thinking about adding:

Backup tool: "DEJA DUP"

Active Directory Authentication tool: "Likewise-open"

Think it's a good idea ?

Add something to edit (via GUI of course) grub. Also IMO it should be integrated into the UCC, the way it is now its just a list of icons. It would be nice something like you press the button and changes with a transition (something like the ipod menu transition would be really cool) to the respective settings. And a back button in the upper left for going back to the list.

My 0.02

EDIT: IMO, ubuntu configs are so ugly. I mean, they don't respect a similar interface like in windows or mac, they are just separate and very different windows each one. It should be more integrated like KDE (but not that bloated) or OSX.

I must be doing something wrong, there isn't any bacground color on the left hand pane. See screenshot.

cariboo907 said: I must be doing something wrong, there isn't any bacground color on the left hand pane. See screenshot.

Are you using some kind of transparency with compiz ? or using a Maverick build ?

benjamimgois said: Are you using some kind of transparency with compiz ? or using a Maverick build ?

I'm running Maverick up-to-date with compiz set to extra effects.

I just installed it on a similar system, only difference is the video card and processor, and get the same thing. On this system, I'm running gnome-shell, so it's using mutter instead of compiz. I attached another screenshot.

Edit: I am running gtk2.0-0 v.2.21.0-1ubuntu2, would that have something to do with it?

cariboo907 said: I'm running Maverick up-to-date with compiz set to extra effects.

I just installed it on a similar system, only difference is the video card and processor, and get the same thing. On this system, I'm running gnome-shell, so it's using mutter instead of compiz. I attached another screenshot.

Edit: I am running gtk2.0-0 v.2.21.0-1ubuntu2, would that have something to do with it?

Cariboo, if i'm not wrong, the development release of Maverick has RGBA enabled by default, so that's causing the compatibility issues.

I am not using compiz at all but it is working fine here with the new package.

I am not sure that needing SUM is that great an idea, at least not yet, as there are some problems that can occur in grub that it seems to complicate.

benjamimgois said: Cariboo, if i'm not wrong, the development release of Maverick has RGBA enabled by default, so that's causing the compatibility issues.

That's what it is, it works properly on Lucid.

cariboo907 said: That's what it is, it works properly on Lucid.

Nice Cariboo, maybe future lazarus releases solve the problem with RGBA.

For 0.3 version i'm planning to add a tool to configure fingerprint readers (http://www.n-view.net/Appliance/fingerprint/) . The problem is the installation process, it's based on a script and asks to user edit lots of text files. I already send an email to the developper to see if we can simplify the installation process, and create a debian package for it. If that could be done, the hardware version in 0.3 version will look like this:

Well, RGBA..:confused:

This app seems to be heavily broken for Maverick.

plun@plun-laptop:~/Downloads$ sudo dpkg -i ucc_02_amd64.deb
Selecting previously deselected package ucc.
(Reading database ... 386439 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ucc (from ucc_02_amd64.deb) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of ucc:
 ucc depends on bum; however:
  Package bum is not installed.
 ucc depends on font-manager; however:
  Package font-manager is not installed.
 ucc depends on gufw; however:
  Package gufw is not installed.
 ucc depends on jstest-gtk; however:
  Package jstest-gtk is not installed.
 ucc depends on startupmanager; however:
  Package startupmanager is not installed.
dpkg: error processing ucc (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for wncksyncdaemon ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/wncksync.index...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for python-gmenu ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_US.utf8.cache...
Processing triggers for python-support ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 ucc

:confused:

The font manager is on the same page as the UCC package. You need it too.

ranch hand said: The font manager is on the same page as the UCC package. You need it too.

Well, &#7811;hat package is font-manager ???? and jstest-gtk :confused:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/

Cannot find any...:confused:

plun said: Well, &#7811;hat package is font-manager ???? and jstest-gtk :confused:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/

Cannot find any...:confused:

Everything you need is on the Oficial download page:

http://sites.google.com/site/ubuntucontrolcenter/downloads

;)

benjamimgois said: Everything you need is on the Oficial download page:

http://sites.google.com/site/ubuntucontrolcenter/downloads

;)

Thanks.....:)

[[img]http://ubuntu-pics.de/thumb/72899/snapshot37_22CzVK.png[/img]](http://ubuntu-pics.de/bild/72899/snapshot37_22CzVK.png)

Strange fonts.... first impression..

Testing !

HMMMMM---I've got it installed, but things are not working well... Screenshot is worth a thousand words:

[EDIT]--tried a different theme--still doing the same thing--Is it requiring the default theme?

Where's the UCC option in the vote!?

Yay pictures! :shock: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=125429

plun said: Well, RGBA..:confused:

This app seems to be heavily broken for Maverick.

plun@plun-laptop:~/Downloads$ sudo dpkg -i ucc_02_amd64.deb
Selecting previously deselected package ucc.
(Reading database ... 386439 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ucc (from ucc_02_amd64.deb) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of ucc:
 ucc depends on bum; however:
  Package bum is not installed.
 ucc depends on font-manager; however:
  Package font-manager is not installed.
 ucc depends on gufw; however:
  Package gufw is not installed.
 ucc depends on jstest-gtk; however:
  Package jstest-gtk is not installed.
 ucc depends on startupmanager; however:
  Package startupmanager is not installed.
dpkg: error processing ucc (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for wncksyncdaemon ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/wncksync.index...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for python-gmenu ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_US.utf8.cache...
Processing triggers for python-support ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 ucc

:confused:

@benjamimgois These packages should not be depends, they should rather be recommends.

It is my opinion that UCC should be altered to search for the tools on the users system. If the tool is in place then enable the UCC function for that tool. If the tool is not in place, then hide that option. Possibly add a feature to then notify the user of which packages could be installed to provide full functionality of UCC, or do it for them if the user chooses to do so.

*My* software only depends on packages which are required for core functionality. Other "enhancements" and options of the software are then used or unlocked upon positive detection of the existence of those features' dependencies.

While I haven't yet actually installed or tested your application, I do agree with it's intent, and the screenshots do look nice. Good job so far.

autocrosser said: HMMMMM---I've got it installed, but things are not working well... Screenshot is worth a thousand words:

[EDIT]--tried a different theme--still doing the same thing--Is it requiring the default theme?

autocrosser, UCC is configured to use SANS fonts of your system, in the next updates i plan to make use the default system font on your system. Maybe, that's the problem here.

Locke_99GS said: @benjamimgois

These packages should not be depends, they should rather be recommends.

It is my opinion that UCC should be altered to search for the tools on the users system. If the tool is in place then enable the UCC function for that tool. If the tool is not in place, then hide that option. Possibly add a feature to then notify the user of which packages could be installed to provide full functionality of UCC, or do it for them if the user chooses to do so.

*My* software only depends on packages which are required for core functionality. Other "enhancements" and options of the software are then used or unlocked upon positive detection of the existence of those features' dependencies.

While I haven't yet actually installed or tested your application, I do agree with it's intent, and the screenshots do look nice. Good job so far.

@Locke, thanks for the observation. More people are asking for the same thing, i'll work on this for next releases ok ?!

benjamimgois said: autocrosser, UCC is configured to use SANS fonts of your system, in the next updates i plan to make use the default system font on your system. Maybe, that's the problem here.

Makes sense--I'm not using a default font......I'll keep a eye out for your next release--starting to look good.

Hey guys, it's just to announce the NEW Ubuntu Control Center 0.5 Beta. In this new version i have created a GUI for vga-switchero. Now it's possible to switch between GPU's with just a single click ! It works fine for me in Lucid with kernel 2.6.35-12 and Intel Core I5 + ATI Radeon Mobility 4550.

0.5 Changelog:

• New VGA Switching Module (needs kernel 2.6.35)
• New category icons
• Small fixes on the interface

I just tried the latest release, everything works as it should. I'm running up-to-date Maverick with kernel 2.6.35-13

Does UCC allow you to change settings without opening a new window for everything like Gnome Control Center does?

Something contained in the Control Center much like Windows Control Panel or Mac's System Preferences would be great. I hate how every preference and/or administrative tool uses a separate window in Linux. It adds an unpolished and choatic feel IMHO.

.05 is looking good here on my sys , If the dev's don't take advantage of your good work and put this in the repos they have their heads in a dark place .

I agree--it's all working like it should. The only problem I have is the non-standard font issue......

kyleabaker said: Does UCC allow you to change settings without opening a new window for everything like Gnome Control Center does?

Something contained in the Control Center much like Windows Control Panel or Mac's System Preferences would be great. I hate how every preference and/or administrative tool uses a separate window in Linux. It adds an unpolished and choatic feel IMHO.

Nope, UCC just call the gnome application or third-party app. I think that to integrate everything in the same window like you said, i would need some more coding. To say the truth, i don't know if it is possible in the way that UCC is designed.

ronacc said: .05 is looking good here on my sys , If the dev's don't take advantage of your good work and put this in the repos they have their heads in a dark place .

Thanks dude ! There's still a lot of work to do (beta stage yet). Let's hope that it influences in some way other projects like the gnome-control-center. :)

autocrosser said: I agree--it's all working like it should. The only problem I have is the non-standard font issue......

You're righ ! I still doesn't work on that issue. Right now, it's developped to used the default configs of Lucid. Maybe in future releases i'll try to work on that. ;)

I am going to have to re install this bugger. Have been installing over the OS I had it in.

Have 2 OS' to re install for ISO testing so it should be back on one of them.

Got to see what you are up to now.

Quick question - Should gnome-control-center be run as the "normal" desktop user or as root (via gksudo)?

Tim

ratcheer said: Quick question - Should gnome-control-center be run as the "normal" desktop user or as root (via gksudo)?

Tim

Normal user

Thank you.

Tim

Did you get response from Canonical legal about potential trademark issues?

Not yet, i sent an email long time ago, but no response yet.

OS X solved it the best, keeping it all in one window. That also howe DrakConf worked and it's way better looking and easier to use than having separate windows like Gnome & MS Windows...

As the Mandriva-projekt seem beyond help now it wouldn't be a bad idea for Ubuntu integrating the DrakeConfig projekt into the Ubuntu projekt...

This might be an impossability though, I don't know integrated DrakeConfig was with the distribution itself, might be to much work adfapting it to another - non RPM-based - system...